Driving on I 70 Photo

Photographer’s Note

The Utah part of I 70 (standing for interstate) is one of my favorite highway stretches in the States and it is not only me that shares the same feelings but also the author of my travel book that I brought along. It is like driving on the moon on some stretches and when I drove it for the first time I could hardly believe what was offered mile after mile for many driving hours. Absolutely beautiful.

I 70 has famous highway exits like the one that goes down to Arches and Canyonlands National Park, to Goblin Valley State Park or Capitol Reef National Park that also leads you down to Kodachrome or Bryce Canyon. It is long long long driving hours ahead of you but each mile is worth sitting in the car. I also recommend trying out less famous exits, try the many exits which have just numbers and no names connecting towns, called “ranch exits” that I guess belong to huge farms or mining companies … if you have a little time before you hit the tourist routes again, these are the true hidden treasures in my eyes. To be honest with you, you might as well leave out one of the many parks in this area, we have seen landscapes that are by far as exciting but probably you don’t believe me if you have the things in mind that are written in the travel books :)))) The only thing is that many times you need a high clearance 4WD for such roads but we did some of them with a normal city car (but attention folks, the insurance does not pay if anything happens, read your contract carefully if you rent a car) but this depends a lot on the rain which can make roads not drivable for days.

About this photo: Taken from a Cessna 172 near the town of Cisco of which I have some interesting photos from the air and from the ground but this comes later. I like the graphic side of this picture here and I chose it for my intro to my travels that I just returned from. When you tour the West it is a lot about long driving hours and this truck suits my personal feelings when it comes to driving on one of these highways. Cisco is about a 45 minute flight away from Grand Junction/Colorado where our home base was for almost ten days but this again is another long story that I come back to later.

Sistercosmo, pierrefonds, avene, Wanda1, cherryripe, feather, fanni, PixelTerror, crhieatt, rasto1893, sevy has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

Sistercosmo (2573) 2009-06-28 4:09

Liebe Barbara!

Welcome home!!! Ich hoffe, es geht dir blendend!! Dieses Bild ist ein schöner Auftakt. Wirklich mondhaft in der Erscheinung. Ich bin gespannt was du uns noch so alles zu zeigen hast.

Ganz liebe Grüße und eine dicke Umarmung! :-)))
Linda

pastadog (12821) 2009-06-28 4:44

Very intriguing thumbnail; superb graphical impact well seen and captured; most appropriate red color of the truck catching the eye

Jeppo (11836) 2009-06-28 5:59

hallo Barbara,

flugbilder sind was besonders....was sieht man hier??
die einsamkeit des Lasters...und dessen Fahrer....wobei diese "rolling on a freeway" ist DER Gefuehl, der uns bezaubert, wenn wir in den USA unterwegs sind

mfg
Silvio

PS: ich war in deiner Naehe diese Woche....und langsam kommt meiner Umzug naeher...

pierrefonds (26167) 2009-06-28 8:59

Hi Barbara,

The diagonal lines of the I-70 and the natural design of the ground are assets to the composition. The truck and the van are adding life to the scenery. The light has a good effect on the colors of the scenery. Have a nice day.

Pierre

avene (10944) 2009-06-28 11:00

hi Barbara,
you are so lucky to have the chance to create photos like this, majority of us are confinded behind the dirty windows of commercial airliners :) always a pleasure to see your world "from above", especially when you bring your minimalistic touch. I like this shot a lot, big open roads and huge trucks are exactly how I remember Utah :) nice, really nice.

best,
Kristine

Nicou (44641) 2009-06-28 11:19

Hello Brabara,

quelle vue, fantastique un vue ploneant et quel efffet, le petit camion rouge, ce deux route avec le belle traces au sole, merveilleux.

merci et amitié

Nicou

ciakgiak (10548) 2009-06-28 16:06

Hello Barbara,
this is a really great image with an impressive POV. I like this composition and its graphical effect, with the pleasant presence of the camion.
A great hug.
Giorgio

berek (28871) 2009-06-28 21:47

Hi Barbara,
its interesting bird eyes taken. I love simple composition with mono colors background. nice graphic view. congratulations.
Have a nice week.
Burak

aadilj (17950) 2009-06-28 22:23

Hi Barbara, this is again a classic with your stamp all over it. its so well seen and so well compsoed with stark hues and tones all around

Wanda1 (10923) 2009-06-29 7:22

Hello Barbara,
I see that you have also been away on a trip :o)
Wow, this really shows the bareness and dryness of the area. Everything from your point of view from so high up becomes abstract and seems otherworldly, but the truck brings us back down to earth looking so small and lost in the vast landscape. A good shot and I find it interesting that you chose to do a vertical format instead of horizontal, giving a different feeling to the landscape.
Best regards
Wanda

Waylim (10741) 2009-06-29 9:34

Barbara,
It is a very nice aerial shot, of the truck speeding out of the image to deliver all the stuff he has on that white cargo box. Sometimes we forget how we get some fresh food in the middle of the desert, they come in one of these things.
Driving through many parts of the U.S. desert or just the swamp land in the South, it's always amazing and enjoyable to me. I can just put on some music and watch the scenery goes by. Many people falls to sleep on long road trips, not me I stay awake the whole time. I don't want to miss a thing. Utah is particularly nice with the bare landscape, you can see everything so clearly and you are the only one car on that road for sometimes. Love to take a trip again soon. I had to cancel my trip to Grand Canyon last month, maybe I'll go in September. I always get nice weather in September.
Way

cherryripe (18931) 2009-06-29 11:20

Hi Barbara
You're getting me excited there. We've got a full day in Arches, a full day between Moab and Capitol Reef and a full day between Capitol Reef and Bryce Canyon and with a 4wd so we'll be able to spend time on the backroads. I like your graphic framing with the roads crossing the image and timing to have the truck well placed.
Regards
Nikki

feather (49858) 2009-06-29 13:28

This landscape makes an almost abstract image from up high in your plane. Minimalism at its best again, with the added touch of the lorry. You even arranged for it to be red!
It's a great way to see the area and then you can decide where you want to take a closer look.
Kath

fanni (8735) 2009-06-29 15:13

Dear Barbara,
to me, the composition is quite curious! that tiny red and white truck brightens up the rather monotonous "texture" of the ground (so well seen, by the way!)
I don't know what exact associations I have when I look at this.. but this is surely something unusual.
warm greetings from night-cool Moscow,
Elena

gneufeld (15169) 2009-06-29 18:09

Hi Barbara,
A must unusual and unexpected image - good on you to get a shot like this one. Good clarity. TFS. Gerald

PixelTerror (86058) 2009-06-30 0:38

Hellooooo
Ah, Baba flies again ! It does look very dry there under, almost another unwelcoming planet if there were not this trace of human activity, nice minimalist image.
Gruess von Walzenhausen, JY

crhieatt (5143) 2009-06-30 1:27

Hello Barbara,

You're right - what a fantastic road the I70 is - and this one reminds me so much of sitting on a little mound photographing these huge trucks passing through the San Rafael swell - probably not too far from the location of this shot - albeit from a lower point of view! Baba flies - Colin sits on little mounds! :)

Cheers
Colin

Dyerco (9038) 2009-06-30 21:07

Hi Barbara
Well done. Excellent composition. I'm going to Utah in Sept and I was going to ask where this was but I see I'm going to have to learn to fly. You were so lucky to have this bright red truck to provide a point of interest.
Phil

azizbilgili (1714) 2009-07-02 7:21

Hi Barbara,
This is a really great image with an impressive POV. I like this composition and its graphical effect, with the pleasant presence of the camion.

TFS

xuaxo (5703) 2009-07-02 7:39

Hi Barbara,
Great view of a desert highway. It makes me remember my photo Kings of the Highway; your truck could (can) be the same of my picture.
Greetings,
Francisco

ktanska (16530) 2009-07-07 0:27

Hi Barbara,
Well divided frame where that freeway slits the image uneven parts. Slightly diagonal orientation pleases my eye. Placing of the truck exiting the frame emphasizes emptyness. Fascinating aerial desert view.
Kari

burraburra (843) 2009-07-08 5:11

Ciao Barbara,
Welcome back from the US journey. The thumbnail grabbed my attetnion immediately. Opened it up to find a very intersting shot. No need to say anymore, the others have said it for me. You write great notes by the way :))
Cheers,
Graham.

rasto1893 (1758) 2009-07-15 1:16

Hello Barbara,
Excelent photo very nice effect from above I like a lot this minimalistic composition ...
My best Regards
Rastislav

sevy (13310) 2009-07-21 5:46

Hello Barbara,

I agree, it is well graphic with this shot evidencing the loneliness of this truck in the desert. The red touch is really making the difference, building a kind of contrast welcome in this uniform landscape.

Yves.

BilboCA (734) 2009-07-27 21:33

Hi, Barbara,

I've skimmed the few dozen critiques and find I can't really add much new. But I do want to take the opportunity to summarize how I react to your image.

I'm a native Californian and have spent considerable time traveling in the western US. It was only in my later adult life, especially traveling to Europe and Asia, that I began to realize how unusual vast open spaces are to most of the world's population.

Your photo captures well my feeling about the openness of the west.

It also speaks to a theme that seems to me to be at the heart of our current times: the interface between humankind and nature. I don't want to get too deeply philosophical here, but this image does bring to mind our western (US) view about nature. We (in the US) think about the environment as something remote that is to be protected in isolation from humanity. But the environment is everywhere, even in those places where we impose a few straight concrete and asphalt lines that divide and disrupt.

Anyway, maybe I haven't expressed my thoughts so well, but the key point is that the human-nature interface lies at the heart of our modern condition, and your photo evokes deep thoughts about the challenges we face.

Regards,
- William